This research aims to point out the power of images and representations, as well as the power of some concepts related to these representations and transmitted through verbal and visual discourses. The city of Cairo offers a rich example to be analyzed. Thanks to a long history, it has an important place in collective imagination. Through the study of four images and two concepts, this article raises the issue of the relationship between reality and imagination, and questions the way new representations of Cairo are being built, according to the actual context. These representations are of crucial importance because they …

The image has become an indispensable concept for the disciplines studying the defining manifestations and features of postmodern culture. The image plays a crucial role in the process of knowledge and the mental life of humankind, and also in the universe created by man, from fine arts to television and computers. The increasing power of images should be related to the transition of modern written culture to a civilization of the image” where the audiovisual, cultural industries and the whole complex called media culture prevail. The main topics that we have covered in this study refer to the cognitive valences …

Much research has been done to explain in all ways possible our relationships with images. But what if the explanations that have been suggested so far were false or incomplete? Could it be possible that our relation to images not be linked to their content? Could it be possible that their abundant presence be in direct association with the structure of our subconscious? We will answer, among other things, to the paradox of the universalization of media, which are spreading throughout countries of different cultures. Indeed, the causes of the multiplication of images should be contextualized first. By relying on …

The analysis of the images of the Nine Eleven’s tragedy, produced and shown in the World Trade center’s collapse will stand as the starting point of a thought about the symbolical mechanisms’ coordination of the capitalist society’s political imagination. The symbolic value of the scene’s different elements will be questioned, isolated from the each others first, and then associated, through the reading table given by one kind of mythological narratives inserted in the Indo-European tradition (especially the judeo-christian’s one), in the genesis of our civilization. So, we’re going to take, as referent narratives, the ones about “Babel Tower” and “The …

A study of reading practices also implies a study of the spatio-temporal contexts of the act of reading, as well as of the places where the books are kept, because every reader course is marked by time and meaningful places. By following the historical evolution of society and its literary reflections, we want to identify some of the issues and meanings of reading places and libraries.

This paper, substantiated by text extracts, develops the contents of thirty images and explanatory diagrams presented during the conference “Image, imaginaire, représentation”. My aim is to show that reality, perceived through both time and space, may be modelled under different representations. Through geometrical figures – the square and the circle – a shift from a spatial representation of time to a temporal representation of space is enabled and religious rites, amphidromic processions, and pagan rites, namely the “tour deFrancedes compagnons”, are evoked. The imaginary orientations of the Tour de France during the 19th century are used as common thread to …

Epigraphy is a favored means of information in Roman Empire. It informs contemporaries about the local leaders and about politics led at the level of the city, of the province or of the Empire. Documents from Roman Africa show that epigraphic representations of women deal with a feminine way of life which leans on civic, social and cultural values. Actually historian can’t estimate the bias between images inscribed on a long-lasting medium, and real-life for which experience objective tracks doesn’t exist. Anyway, considering cultural history, knowing reality is not a requirement since the community considers it as truth. The epigraphic …

During the design process, architects produce images to shape buildings projects and communicate. We question the space of the imagination in representations produced by two international architects depending on the tools used. We will see what are the consequences to interpret them. The comparison of two practices is interesting because different meanings are given to images. While Peter Zumthor uses charcoal to create “the desire of the real presence” leaving the viewer “infiltrate [his] imagination” (Zumthor 2008: 18), Jean Nouvel uses digital tools whose the objective is the “total hyperrealism” (Siret, Baly, Monin, 2004: 129) that means produce representations of …

The work of Scottish sculptor Georgia Russell shows a particular interest in the power of the written word. Since she arrived in France some fifteen years ago when she started using a foreign language, the artist has been using paper which has become her major artistic medium. She cuts and slashes novels, book covers, newspapers, language dictionaries etc. and her scalpel cuts emphasize some words in particular. By doing so, she creates visual shortcuts which evoke the dreamlike approaches of surrealism or psychoanalysis. In a manner which is common to many contemporary artists, the universal terms she emphasizes in her …

In verbal interactions, as in any other type of discourse, the locutor uses a series of techniques in order to reveal something about him/herself, thus projecting a certain image in which corporality becomes loaded with meaning (significant). The role of the body is important in argumentation, and it was recognized in traditional theories on ethos and confirmed by recent research. In this article, we will examine the concept of polyphony and its evolution through its relation to body imagery.

The contribution presents the results of a research performed in 2013 in the Seychelles. The Seychelles government prioritizes English to the detriment of French, despite the fact that 95 % of the local population speak Seychellois Creole and consider themselves closer to French rather than to English. The usage of French is in decline. For the government, English represents the first language of the country, followed by Creole and by French. For the Seychellois population, it is the Creole that constitutes the first language, followed by English and by French. The Creole-English bilingualism is more frequent than the Creole-French bilingualism. …

In this paper, we aim to analyse the discursive marks of some collective imaginations that function with respect to the body, its role, its efforts and its asceticism within Orthodox monasticism. We will refer especially to a book of monastic spirituality written by archimandrite Placide Deseille, entitled Le monachisme orthodoxe (Deseille, 2013); we will try to analyze the lexicon that explains the (discursive) construction and the functioning of a “normative” collective imagination concerning the body, “prescribed” very discreetly by the Fathers of the Church and some monastic authors that wrote about the significance and the role of bodily asceticism in …